HRTech Interview with Victoria Myers, Global Head of Talent Attraction, Amdocs

Victoria, please give us a brief overview of your professional journey so far. What inspired you to choose HR as your career?

My personal career journey started nearly 25 years ago when I landed my first role at a recruiting agency and tackled both sales and recruiting. Keep in mind that this was before the Dot-Com bubble burst and, being based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we were heavily focused on the telecommunications space. After settling into that first job, I found that I personally enjoyed the recruiting side more than sales, so I specifically pursued this aspect of my career while specializing in talent attraction across both the telecommunications and technology verticals.

This eventually led me to Amdocs! Prior to joining the company, I was actually working for a competitor and would often recruit from Amdocs. Now everything has come full circle: I’m a battle-tested recruiter who was able to spend the majority of my career right where I wanted – in telecommunications and technology – and get to help grow a company with an incredibly talented workforce.

Tell us a little bit about Amdocs and its unique offerings.

At Amdocs, we’re a leading provider of software and services to communications and media companies – think AT&T, Comcast, Dish, T-Mobile, and more. We specifically work with more than 350 communications and media providers across more than 85 countries, meaning that we serve billions of consumers worldwide.

In short, our 31,000 employees around the globe are here to accelerate our customers’ migration to the cloud, differentiate in the 5G era, digitalize and automate their operations, and provide end users with the next-generation communication and media experiences that make the world say wow.

As the Global Head of Talent Attraction at Amdocs, what are your top three strategies when hiring talent? What are the top qualities that you look for in an ideal candidate?

When we created a global team focused on talent attraction, the primary goal was proactive sourcing and specialized candidate engagement. We wanted to build a strong pipeline of warm leads that are engaged with the Amdocs brand before we have hiring needs. In order to do this, we put in place a strategy to review the high-volume roles where we hire the most often, including a deep dive into the skill sets required. This investigation allowed us to develop specific personas that we could begin sourcing with an emphasis on certain skills, while also sharing personalized and targeted content to each persona.

When I look for an ideal candidate, I look for skills, experience, and overall attitude. Someone who can show they can learn and apply themselves to build new capabilities is just as important as the candidates who have already done it.

Amdocs recently released its Future @ Work: The Changing Talent Dynamics report, what are your key takeaways from it?

In May 2023, we conducted a survey of 1,200 full-time workers in the U.S. who were 18+ in age and the results were surprising – and should catch the eye of anyone who’s working in the talent attraction field (or anyone who’s looking to potentially join Amdocs!).

The big takeaway that emerged was that employees today are looking for far more than a job that lets them simply clock-in-and-out, and even competitive pay isn’t enough. Modern employees are ambitious and curious and want opportunities to both grow within their careers and also explore new teams, skillsets, and functional areas.

How does Amdocs define “mobility” in the context of internal job opportunities and challenges?

The terms talent “mobility” and talent “development” are often used interchangeably but, really, they have quite different meanings.

At Amdocs, we view talent development as the process of providing an opportunity for our employees to learn new skills and grow (such as technical skills, behavioral or soft skills, and management skills, among others). However, each of these examples represents areas of development that enable someone to grow in their career.

Talent mobility, on the other hand, can include reskilling or upskilling employees, depending on each person’s individual skillsets and personal aspirations. Rather than being centered around career growth and the traditional corporate ladder that’s so often used as a framework for career trajectory, the mobility aspect embraces an employee’s ability to change roles within the same company.

Not every company embraces these two equally, but they’re both key to maintaining a happy and healthy workforce.

What measures has Amdocs taken to support internal mobility for its employees?

Over the past several years, we’ve been investing heavily in our internal talent – including mobility. For us, career opportunities are about each employee’s growth in their role, learning, upskilling, and mentorship. Ultimately, talent is our company’s biggest asset.

That’s why this year we plan to introduce a new AI-driven “marketplace” that pairs the career aspirations of our employees with our business opportunities. We’ll be able to proactively contact employees to offer them roles and responsibilities using AI-based technology to identify their potential and eliminate all the non-objective criteria in the process so that each person can achieve their next career move within Amdocs. In fact, at Amdocs we already currently have a 40% internal mobility rate globally – something that we’re proud to share.

What initiatives does Amdocs have in place to promote growth opportunities for its employees?

We are taking a multi-pronged approach to promote growth opportunities internally. First is the AI-driven “marketplace” we are implementing and rolling out this year. This platform will provide our employees an integrated view of their current skills, any gaps they have in skills within their current role, and the recommended learning programs to close those gaps. Additionally, employees will be able to identify their long-term career goals, outline opportunities to improve their skillsets, and allow them to easily find the related learning programs.

In the meantime, we have a plethora of programs in place to upskill and/or reskill our employees.
For instance, Amdocs has developed an internal site, called “Amdocs U,” that incorporates Onboarding, Reskilling and Upskilling to provide employees and their managers the ability to design training programs based on the both the skills that need to be developed as well as skills the employee wants to learn.

Additionally, we have a LMS system, management and team lead training programs, programs to train women into Customer Business Executive roles, and courses for those who want to develop power skills such as decision making, strategic thinking, emotional intelligence and resiliency. We also have the full suite of LinkedIn learning courses available to us.
Reskilling is part of our DNA as we have reskilled and upskilled 8,000 in microservices and cloud.

In light of the survey findings, how does Amdocs prioritize reskilling and upskilling programs for its workforce?

As noted in the above answer, we have made this a priority for some time. While we already have programs in place, we are continuously looking on how to improve the employee experience as it relates to getting access to all these tools. We envision the AI-driven “marketplace” to be a one-stop shop for employees and their careers. It already has the capability to find open positions, and soon it will also include skills assessments, career planning, skills gap analysis, learning program options, and more.

How does Amdocs identify and address potential biases in talent mobility and career opportunities within the company?

It’s a good question, and one that unfortunately needs to be addressed. In our earlier consumer survey, we actually found that bias was one of the biggest barriers for many young adults in the workforce looking to get ahead today. In fact, while just 41% of employees between the ages of 45-54 say there’s bias when it comes to career opportunities at their company, nearly six-in-10 of those between the ages of 25-34 reported the same – which represents a significant discrepancy between these generations.

So, back to your question, how does Amdocs address this challenge? First is by having a clearly defined policy and process to support mobility. This needs to define when an employee is eligible to move roles, notification to their current manager, and an established timeline for the transition. Having such a clearly defined policy and process ensures that their managers cannot stop the employee’s mobility (which is too often the case regardless of which industry someone might be in). At Amdocs, we empower our employees to move roles after 12 months in their current role and the transition period cannot be longer than 45 days.

What role does hybrid work play in addressing the needs and preferences of employees, particularly Gen Z and younger Millennials?

There is no doubt that since the pandemic, the idea of the modern workplace has changed. Based on our own research, we see that there is a demand for flexible work environments that can meet the needs of both those who would like a hybrid schedule and others who claim that, without an office to go to, they would likely leave their jobs. While there’s no silver bullet solution that can be deployed widely, it’s crucial that people leaders determine what works best for their own companies. Doing so requires prioritizing the ability to foster valuable collaboration among peers, sparks innovation through a collaborative environment, and promotes employee well-being – whether an employee has been in the workforce longer or they’re just starting this exciting journey.

What strategies does Amdocs employ to retain talented employees who may be tempted to leave due to a lack of growth opportunities?

We see that the more you provide mobility and development opportunities, the better a company’s overall retention. Our research even found that growth and talent mobility are more of a priority than individual compensation. While one-third of people would leave their job if they lacked support for internal mobility, less than half (45%) say their workplace supports it. Another 46% say they have left a company despite liking the compensation, benefits, and culture due to lack of growth in their role – an unfortunate reality that many, including myself, have experienced.

That’s why we intentionally prioritize and have become hyper-proactive about internal mobility (and ensuring our workforce is aware of the opportunities available to them). Additionally, our own internal research has revealed that when a specific employee applies to a role but may not be selected, they have a significantly higher chance of leaving the company. However, by implementing a proactive internal sourcing model, we’re able to enable the Talent Attraction team to engage with these employees to chart out other opportunities that may make sense.

Based on the survey findings, what changes or adaptations do you foresee in the talent attraction strategies and practices of companies in the near future?

One of the key findings coming out of the survey was that employees are eager to leverage AI for both their own personal career growth and to help increase their own productivity.

While many of the narratives we’re seeing today have focused on AI taking over jobs or replacing specific skillsets – we’re witnessing the exact opposite. More than two-thirds (66%) of full-time workers reported wanting their employers to offer AI solutions that can help make their lives easier and more fulfilling by automating tasks such as booking meetings and completing assistant-based tasks, helping them do their jobs better and faster, and improving their personal and professional life.

Additionally, nearly six-in-10 (58%) of workers use AI to empower their career growth. Another 28% want AI to train them in new areas to grow their skillset, while 30% want an AI solution that can scan their resume and match them to new jobs within their existing company – something Amdocs is already proactively doing and an area where other employers need to catch up to remain at the forefront of modern talent attraction strategies and practices.

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